Winners named in Loveland snow sculpture event (video)

Holly Poole, 10, right, and her sister, Amanda Poole, 6, look at a snow sculpture by Team Scream during the Snow Sculpture in the Dark event Saturday in downtown Loveland.
(
Steve Stoner
)

Snow Sculpture in the Dark winners

1st Place: Team Breck

2nd Place: Team Scream

3rd Place: Team Enchanted Forrest

People's Choice: Team Snow Fuddz

The two hearts, star and moon atop the snow loveseat on Fourth Street weren't supposed to be pink -- just white like the three muses etched around the edges.

But the hot pink spray paint Team Three Musing used to mark out the lines for carving got mixed in with other snow, and because it was too dark to see, the hearts got "girl power."

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Team Three Musing is all girl and all about Loveland with the only all-female team competing Saturday in the fourth annual Snow Sculpture in the Dark event. Robin Dodge, Lindsay Cantley and Sarah Reuter, who are from Loveland, carved out the muses in abstract Cubism style and, on the back, added shadows of dancing people.

"A bunch of little girls are calling it the princess chair," Cantley said.

That works, too -- well, except for the heat and wind that softened edges, altered shapes, ate away chunks and made their work not as detailed as they wanted.

"When we left, it looked all fantastic," Dodge said about finishing up at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Dodge and her team had to do some last-minute touchups later on that morning, because of the Chinook winds that blew in one last wrench to the fickle weather.

"The weather was just adverse in the snow sense," Dodge said. "It was very comfortable to work in."The snow sculpture event kicked off with a stomping party Monday night when the teams and community volunteers packed down man-created snow into nine blocks spaced along Fourth Street from Cleveland to Garfield avenues. The teams of three could start carving Tuesday afternoon, but several put it off to maintain the integrity of their pieces, avoiding the freezing and thawing process from the changing temperatures.

On Friday, the members of Team Snow Fuddz, winner of the People's Choice Award, had to redo whole pieces of their sculpture, "Hope Floats," an image of hearts on top of an origami-inspired boat rising out of flood waters.

"The wind came in and ate it away," said Kerri Ertman, team member and a Loveland resident. "All of us were a little somber (Friday) because we had to rebuild."

Visitors to the event could witness this building process and see a sculpture come together from start to finish, said Sally Buonpane, event coordinator.

"I enjoy the camaraderie with the artists," Buonpane said. "They share everything. It's a competition, but they're so nice to each other. They're all in it together."

Team Breck, the first-place winner of the competition, ended up not having much camaraderie, given that his two teammates could not make the event, so it was "me, myself and I," Keith Martin said.

"I didn't get in any arguments with myself," Martin said.

But Mother Nature, the fourth partner for all teams, caused Martin to change his approach from chipping away at his snow block to adding on snow.

"This was much mushier. You literally could pick it up and pack it in," Martin said.

Martin's piece is an image of a face split in two, with the inner pieces sliding out like a deck of cards. He called it Brain Freeze, Division Bell and an assortment of other names, admitting that he forgot the original name.

Second-place went to Team Scream's creation of an open mouth with the tongue sticking out, revealing a heart-shaped throat.

"We did it for the public, so they could take pictures through the heart," said Garrett Dreiling.

Team Enchanted Forrest, third-place winner, carved Wile E. Coyote on a love machine, called Hunka-Burnin-Love, that operates with the help of a heart-shaped belt.

"He can't catch that Road Runner, so he heard about the event up here last night in Loveland, Colorado on Valentine's Day," said team member David Hammer of Arvada. "In his left hand, he has a heart. He's rushing up here to get that valentine on time."

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